


The Moat of Oblivion

by faeryghost



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Castle Oblivion (Kingdom Hearts), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 15:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17552636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faeryghost/pseuds/faeryghost
Summary: Roxas and Axel visit Castle Oblivion looking for clues concering Xion's whereabouts. Roxas promptly experiences a sharp headache before Axel suggests a retreat. Deep in Roxas's mind, he has an encounter with a woman from the darkness.





	The Moat of Oblivion

Is it cruel? To display proudly in the sky that which they do not have? Is its pale, crater-ravaged surface meant to incentivise the pursuit of wholeness? The complete self…

Who is it that decided a being requires a heart to be acknowledged, validated, respected? Perhaps this ordinance was drawn from some primal force within all creatures. The behaviour of the Heartless seems to imply this; they lack sentience and yet still they relentlessly chase after the power of the heart, the source of feeling.

Feelings...can it be considered cruel to taunt those without feelings? If they do not... _cannot_ react negatively to emotional torture, then where does the standard lie? Should Nobodies be treated like “real people” regardless? Just to keep things fair? 

These thoughts and questions often weighed on Roxas’s mind, though with less clarity than they have been presented here. It is difficult to lay out a linear line of thought when one’s ponderings are so frequently repressed. To tell oneself, “I cannot think this,” is to subconsciously muddle the process and keep harsh revelation at bay.

The disappearance of Xion had made this repression increasingly difficult. Roxas “felt” so much pain at her absence, so much that it became difficult to ignore the paradox presented by the conjunction of the Organization’s teachings and his lived experience. Seeking resolution, he requested that Axel show him the way to Castle Oblivion. The name of the place was the boy’s first warning.

The profuse whiteness of the castle’s interior was striking, yet underwhelming. One might think that echoes would run amok due to the immense size of the hallway, but the unflinching walls would not allow such disorderly vibrations. The decor, while elegant, lacked passion entirely. As Roxas stepped foot into the castle’s hall, it reminded him of the steadfast moon of The World That Never Was.

“So, this is Castle Oblivion…” he said to Axel, who was trailing behind him.

Axel did not hear Roxas’s remark. This was not a product of the sound-eating walls, but rather, a deep-rooted doubt. Though unaware of all the castle’s secrets, he understood the situation as it pertained to his friend. And as such, he understood that bringing Roxas to such a place came with a certain risk.

As if to confirm Axel’s anxiety, the hammer of fate was swiftly brought down upon Roxas, who began to grow unsteady as his head started to sting more and more. The boy raised a hand to his head, as if his palm would be an antidote to his sudden affliction.

“Roxas!?” Axel spoke with concern.

“My...my head!” The boy raised his other palm; double the dose, yet still no relief.

“Easy, man!” Axel instructed, rushing to keep his friend steady. “Let’s retreat for now and-”

“I’m fine!” Roxas shouted, stubbornly. He removed his hands from his head, but failed to deliver Axel a convincing performance of a healthy individual. “We have to...find Xion…” Falling to his knees, Roxas gave up the act, and once again reapplied the palms, to no avail. “Wh...what’s happening?”

The story, as it proceeds from here, has been lost to the darkness. It will never be told aloud, and it will never be recalled. It may as well have never even happened. However, just like the Nobodies, this Story That Never Was somehow, still, _is_.

 

* * *

 

The pain seemed to leave his head all at once, and with its exit the pearly walls of the castle turned pitch black. Roxas slowly removed his palms from his head, and as they ceased to obstruct his view, he discovered two figures occupying space near the end of the hallway. Axel was gone.

Despite the newfound darkness, the figures seemed illuminated and clearly visible. On the left, a young, brown-haired boy from Roxas’s dreams slept in a transparent, flowery pod. On the right, Roxas himself sat unconscious on an ivory throne. Inexplicably drawn to the two, Roxas began to drift forward. As he drew closer, he started to recognize that the Other Roxas was a different being entirely. There was no visual indication to aid in this conclusion, but he could _feel_ it was true. He stopped and stared at the two boys for what seemed like a long while. He was especially transfixed by his doppelganger.

“It’s too late,” said a voice from behind him.

It sounded eerily calm. A kind of tranquil anger was immediately identifiable; a voice like a scream subdued. As Roxas turned, startled, he found that the stranger’s appearance aligned with her manner of speech.

Her glowing amber eyes were the first thing to intimidate the boy, followed by her silver hair and tattered clothes.

“You look like…” Roxas’s mind began to run wild with hypotheses, but they were hushed by the stranger’s piercingly quiet voice.

“Shouldn’t you be asking who?” she proposed.

“Huh?”

“Who is it too late for? I’ll give you the answer. It’s all of you…” She seemed to reconsider her response. “Everyone,” she corrected.

“What!? Have you done something to Xion!?”

 

* * *

 

“Roxas!” Axel called out. Suddenly, the walls of the castle were white once more. 

Roxas writhed in pain. “So much...rushing into…”

 

* * *

 

As if a light switch were being flipped, the hallway turned black again and Axel disappeared.

“Isn’t it cruel?” The silver-haired woman asked, seemingly to herself. “I’ve stopped resisting the darkness, but still this realm tortures me with illusions.”

“You’re not making sense!” Roxas shouted angrily. “Tell me where Xion is or-”

The witch rushed at the boy before he could finish his sentence. Like a raindrop given strength by a tornado, the woman swiftly summoned her keyblade and swiped. Roxas dodged just in time, and instinctively called upon his own weapon.

The woman halted her assault. “That isn’t his keyblade,” she whispered to herself, looking upon the Kingdom Key that Roxas wielded.

“Speak up!” Roxas said, growing aggravated with the stranger. The woman continued to ignore the cloaked boy in front of her. She looked at the ground in melancholic contemplation.

“Tell me…” she began, “why have you come to these shores? Why drag your shoes through its dark sands?”

Roxas lowered his guard. “Shores? We’re in the castle…”

 

* * *

 

“My head…”

Another flip of the unseen switch. Roxas felt Axel’s reassuring grip around his shoulders. The red-haired man helped his friend back to his feet. “Let’s get out of here for now!” Axel said, opening a corridor of darkness.

“No, wait…”

Axel began to guide him to the portal.

“There’s...something…I can...almost…”

 

* * *

 

As the room turned black for the last time, the woman was right beside him. Nearly shoulder to shoulder, she faced the opposite direction of him, as if preparing to leave.

“You...What is your name?” she asked.

“Roxas,” he said. “What’s yours?”

“Aqua.”

Her name seemed to spark a million synapses, tiny connections that stormed and raged in Roxas’s brain. Overwhelmed, he began to stumble backwards, grunting and moaning in agony. He bumped, back first, into the pod in which the brown-haired boy slept. As he made contact, images of a youth with jade-green eyes became the loudest in his mind.

 

* * *

 

“Riku!” Roxas called out, jolting awake. As he opened his eyes and realized that the youth in his vision was not present, a wave of disappointment washed over him.

“Are you alright?” Axel asked. It became apparent that the fiery man had brought him to Twilight Town.

Roxas tried his best to focus, but his memories were fleeting. The waters pulled away all that Roxas had experienced at the castle. He was left with the feeling of an unplaceable regret. He was left feeling like a Nobody.

**Author's Note:**

> This was purely a way to release some built-up energy in my anticipation for Kingdom Hearts III. Roxas and Aqua are my favourite characters in the series, and Castle Oblivion, my favourite location! The story here takes place during the canonical events of day 297 from 358/2 Days.
> 
> I tried to work some KH-esque logic into this fic, which some may have been able to infer, but I'll state it here explicitly anyway. Castle Oblivion exists somewhere between the Realms of Light and Darkness, and I figured since Aqua brought it into existence, she might have some connection with it. This connection was amplified by Roxas's affiliations with Ventus and Sora, allowing them to form some kind of psychic link. This resulted in Roxas seeing Aqua while in the castle, and Aqua seeing him while in the Realm of Darkness. Since time flows differently in the Realm of Darkness, the link is formed after Aqua has already fallen to darkness (as seen in trailers for KHIII).
> 
> Hope that clears up any questions surrounding how these two characters were able to interact!


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